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Hi

Tizzle85

Hey everyone. 

I'm Tara, 39 years old from West Midlands.

I've very recently started the referral process for a formal autism diagnosis.

I have suffered with mental health issues most of my life since I was a child. 

I had 2 bouts of post natal depression and was told I had GAD. I've been on numerous types of SSRIs and been for counselling, CBT etc.

The reason I went for the referral was because since I have become perimenopausal, I am finding my symptoms of my thought processes/behaviours etc increasingly unbearable. I suspected initially I might have traits of ADHD but it was the mental health practitioner who said he felt it was more Autism and perhaps ADHD aswell.

This has been a huge shock to me, however, the more I educate myself, the more I am joining the dots and figuring myself out in a new light.

I feel somewhat distressed that my life up until this point could have been much different.

However I'm trying to be positive about it and reach out to others, not necessarily for validation but to make some new friends and to listen to other people's experiences too.

Parents

  • Greetings fellow Midlander!

    I'm not living in the area anymore, but grew up in the Black Country. In my teenage years I'd get the train to Brum to go out partying.

    My "journey" towards a diagnosis started in my early 40s after a couple of my friends got diagnoses and started posting memes that I related to a bit too much. I mentioned it to my mum and she said something along the lines of: "yeah, you're definitely on the spectrum". Given my brother had Autism and ADHD and she'd worked with SEN services I took her judgement seriously. To cut a long story short I got a private diagnosis via my insurance after seeing the mental health crisis team last year.

    I guess I have had plenty of time to become accustomed to being autistic. Also having a few friends who are also autistic gave me some reassurance and insight about what it meant.

    Looking back it makes sense of a lot of things in my life. I choose to view it a a massive endorsement of my achievements to date. I did all this while being "disabled" with bipolar and autism, so I must be pretty awesome... but I have been diagnosed with delusions of grandeur in the past!! ;)

    Hope you manage to keeps positive.

  • in reply to Tears_before_bedtime

    Oh hello fellow midlander!

    Thanks for your reply! I use to go out in Brum all the time partying and I lived in Brim for about 2 years in my 20s! Amazing, crazy time; very hedonistic but I look back now and think how on earth I did them things when I can't even cope in a room with more than 3 people talking and a tv on these days! I looked into the correlation between autism and the rave scene and was very surprised to learn that going to raves/festivals is a great place for stimming due to the repetitive nature of the music. Also a sense of belonging which I always got. 

    Thank you for sharing your story with me!

    Are you far from the Midlands these days? 

    orange heart

  • in reply to Tizzle85

    I used to go clubbing a lot in my younger days and am also amazed at what younger me got up to. The repetitive beats and dancing a lot (so no social chit chat, just bonding over the joint experience) was definitely good. I'm a bit yoo old for it now and I couldn't stay up all night these days.

    I'm in the London area now, but still have family in the Midlands so go up to visit a couple of times a year. It's changed a lot over the years. 

  • in reply to Tears_before_bedtime

    Haha sorry I'm new to this forum so I'll be mindful about asking locations in future Sweat smile 

    Oh noooo what have they done to Camden Sob

  • in reply to Tizzle85

    I won't say precisely where I am, as that'd fall foul of the rules here, but I'm under an hour by public transport into central. Most places in London are "about an hour away" on tfl so that doesn't narrow it down much!

    I used to hang out in Camden too, but it has unfortunately been "improved" (ie destroyed) to quite some extent. It's sad to see so many chain stores, but there are still some independents hanging on. I went recently and managed to find a little of the old Camden still there.

  • in reply to Tears_before_bedtime

    Yes I literally look back at my old self and think how did I do all them crazy things! 

    You're spot on though, pretty much zero social interaction and just dancing all night! I do have some Decks so I do have a mix every now and again and have a couple of close friends round. I would like to go to an event at some point if my bank balance/body and kids allow it haha. 

    Ahh where abouts in London? I use to love going to Camden years back, not been for a long time now though. 

    Yeah you're right, it's changed massively up this way. Where I live in Stafford (near stoke, wolves etc) is really boring. There's nothing to do at all! 

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  • in reply to Tears_before_bedtime

    Yes I literally look back at my old self and think how did I do all them crazy things! 

    You're spot on though, pretty much zero social interaction and just dancing all night! I do have some Decks so I do have a mix every now and again and have a couple of close friends round. I would like to go to an event at some point if my bank balance/body and kids allow it haha. 

    Ahh where abouts in London? I use to love going to Camden years back, not been for a long time now though. 

    Yeah you're right, it's changed massively up this way. Where I live in Stafford (near stoke, wolves etc) is really boring. There's nothing to do at all! 

Children